世論 What Japan Thinks

With GPS becoming standard in most of the higher-end mobile phones these days, this recent survey from goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com looked at GPS devices in general.

Demographics

Between the 24th and 29th of September 2009 1,023 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.8% of the sample were male, 16.4% in their teens, 18.2% in their twenties, 21.3% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 15.6% in their fifties, and 12.2% aged sixty or older.

I don’t have GPS on my rather old and low-end phone, but I cannot really say I desperately want any of the features listed in Q2SQ. A walking history might be nice, as a few phones these days also have pedometers, so recording not just your paces but also your speed and distance walked might be useful for tracking one’s exercise patterns. Location-based search in itself is not compelling, but add in functionality such as only showing your favourite genres of restaurants, highly-rated locations, or places with discount coupons and then it becomes more useful, although whether or not I’d use it is debatable!
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Here is the second installment of a very interesting series of surveys from goo Research into mobile devices, as reported on by japan.internet.com. I translated the first installment last month.

Demographics

Between the 14th and 18th of September 2009 1,095 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.7% of the sample were male, 16/8% in their teens, 18.3% in their twenties, 21.5% in their thirties, 16.3% in their forties, and 27.2% aged fifty or older.

I used to be extremely excited about the new Sharp NetWalker – what’s not to love about the form factor of an electronic dictionary (A5-sized), running Linux, 10 hour battery life, high resolution touch screen, etc, etc. Well, after a play with it in the shops, the keyboard are closer to buttons than keys so have a dreadful feel, there’s a huge dead area around the screen, the touch pad is microscopic and the mouse buttons are under the left hand, 10 hours battery life is measured with minimum brightness and no sound, and the biggest killer, 45,000 yen price tag (40,000 yen if you shop around), or about 450 US dollars or 280 UK pounds. For less than that I can pick up any number of netbooks, and I’m off to the US at the end of the month so $320 for an Acer Aspire One delivered straight to my hotel room from Amazon sounds like a plan.
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This month’s 48th regular survey into mobile phone upgrade needs by goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com looked specifically at what features people look for in a new mobile phone.

Demographics

Between the 7th and 11th of September 2009 exactly 1,000 mobile phone-using members of the goo Research monitor group completed an online questionnaire. 52.7% of the sample were female, 1.0% in their teens, 15.8% in their twenties, 34.7% in their thirties, 29.5% in their forties, and 19.0% aged fifty or older.

The original Japanese article’s headline was that four in ten teenagers want a waterproof mobile phone, but because the statistic is completely accurate according to this sample, it is highly inaccurate, as there was only ten teenagers in the whole sample, so the margin of error is vast! However, the trend for older people being more interested in water resistance is valid, and is perhaps a reflection on clumsiness increasing with age!

In Q2, one obvious (from a Western phone user point of view, I think) missing feature is synchronisation with calendar or address book applications; Bluetooth support suggests just wireless headphones to me as few Japanese computers come with built-in support. Unfortunately, there’s no “What USA Thinks” or “What UK Thinks” web site for me to cross-reference against, although if any of my readers have data, I’d love to hear it. Also in Q2, you’ll note that the iPhone has only four of the top ten features and none of the top three, whereas most of the higher-end Japanese phones have at least seven of them.
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A recent survey from Marsh Inc and reported on by japan.internet.com looked at people’s home computer environment. This is a topic I previously covered almost two years ago.

Demographics

Between the 10th and 14th of September 2009 300 members of the Marsh monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The sample was exactly 50:50 male and female, 1.0% were in their teens, 19.0% in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, 20.0% in their fifties, and 20.0% aged sixty or older.

Q2 is a bit vague in the wording, as especially for a portable machine, the room in which it is placed, which implies when not in use, and the room in which it is used may differ. I know when I take my work note PC home it sits in the study/spare room when I’m not using it, but I bring it through to the kitchen table when I want to use it. However my main desktop sits permanently at a computer desk in the study.

Which reminds me, I really should organise the area around my computer desk to be a proper homeworking setup…
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A few months ago I published a survey into home consoles that was rightly criticised for not having information on home much machines were actually played. Hopefully this recent survey from goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com into consumer games machines, their first in a regular series, will go some way to answering these complaints.

Demographics

Between the 27th and 31st of August 2009 1,045 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.8% of the sample were male, 16.6% in their teens, 18.5% in their twenties, 21.4% in their thirties, 16.4% in their forties, and 27.2% aged fifty or older.

I have a Nintendo DS at home, but it’s the wife’s and it’s gathering dust. I’d take it to play on the train, but it’s pink… Perhaps I can find a suitably macho jacket for it that can hide the real colour?

In addition to the questions below, people were asked what game they had bought most recently. Top by a mile was Dragon Quest 9 for the DS, with many of the earlier games in the series also featuring. The games were equally popular with both male and female purchasers. Second was Monster Hunter 3 from the Wii, then Wii Sports.
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I’ve never had any external memory die or get lost, but this recent survey from goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com showed that between one in five and one in six Japanese had suffered such problems with external memory.

Demographics

Between the 12th and 14 of August 2009 1,085 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.8% of the sample were male, 16.8% in their teens, 16.6% in their twenties, 21.1% in their thirties, 17.7% in their forties, 15.7% in their fifties, and 12.2% aged sixty or older.

Due to the lack of a suitable graph, I’ve instead used a picture from yoppy on flickr.
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japan.internet.com recently reported on a very interesting survey conducted by goo Research into mobile devices, their very first in a new series of monthly surveys.

Demographics

Between the 3rd and 6th of August 2009 1,087 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a computer internet-based questionnaire. 52.4% of the sample were male, 17.3% in their teens, 18.1% in their twenties, 21.3% in their thirties, 15.9% in their forties, and 27.3% in their fifties.

You’ll notice that as well as netbooks there are also UMPCs, or Ultra-Mobile Personal Computers and MIDs, Mobile Internet Devices. A survey from earlier this year contained an explanation of the differences between netbooks and UMPCs, and MIDs seem to be the halfway house between a smartphone and a netbook or UMPC. Oh, and a PND appears to be a Personal Navigation Device, or a GPS-based route-mapping device.

I also think that Q1 should have included the iPod Touch.

I don’t carry anything other than a dumb phone, but I want to buy a netbook some time… I used to be interested in getting a Japan manufacturer-built Android-based mobile, but I’m going off the idea a bit.
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Here’s a curious look at iBridge Research Plus and reported on by japan.internet.com into wristwatches.

Demographics

On the 4th of August 2009 300 members of the iBridge Research Plus monitor group who were currently employed or students completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 73.7% of the sample were male, 15.7% in their twenties, 33.0% in their thirties, 30.7% in their forties, 19.0% in their fifties, and 1.7% in their sixties.

I have a watch, but only wear it at weekends, as during weekdays at work there are more than enough clocks in the office or the railway station, so why bother? It’s also a watch I got free for Air Miles that has had all its rhinestones fall out and its sky-blue fake leather strap is not really fitting for the business environment, and anyway it gets in the way when I type.
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After one year of the iPhone in Japan, how is it viewed? This was the question posed by iShare when they conducted a survey into the iPhone.

Demographics

Between the 7th and 10th of July 2009 568 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.7% of the sample were male, 35.6% in their twenties, 29.2% in their thirties, and 35.2% in their forties.

I’ve not actually touched an iPhone, although I do feel it would be nice from certain points of view, but I’m not really that big an Apple fan, and as most of my email is emoticon, emoji and decomail-ridden I don’t think that the iPhone is the best fit for me.

However, I am looking forward to Japanese manufacturers bringing out their own Android-based mobiles but… ah, I’ll stop there.
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This fun survey from goo Research, and reported on by japan.internet.com, into taking electronic equipment along to the beach indicates that the majority of people who take their laptop computers to the seaside end up dropping them in the ocean!

Demographics

Between the 8th and 13th of July 2009 1,077 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.1% of the sample were male, 16.4% in their teens, 18.1% in their twenties, 21.6% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 15.9% in their fifties, and 11.8% aged sixty or older.

I wonder if the high rate of butterfingered notebook computer owners suggests that those daft enough to take a computer to the beach are also daft enough not to look after it properly! Sand under the keyboard would be enough of a reason for me not to bother, let alone the risk of a briny dunk.

Have any of my readers had electronics destroyed by seawater?

Photo from gamp on flickr.
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